16 The Invisible Gorilla and Other Inattentions (TPE Hyperlinked Endnotes)
In the previous chapter, “The Scylla and Charybdis of Stigma and Superpowers,” M. Leona Godin explored how entrenched ableism and ocularcentrism encourages the sighted world to think of blind people in extremes: either super-sensed or lacking in all awareness and understanding. These biases lead to discrimination in the workplace and beyond. It’s not surprising that the sciences would be an inhospitable place. As we saw in “The Molyneux Man,” blind people are often considered interesting subjects for scientific investigations, philosophical thought experiments, and medical cures. On the other hand, blind people are rarely thought of as researchers, philosophers, or physicians.
This chapter considers not only the unapologetic discrimination blind scientists so often face, but also the ocularcentric and erroneous systemic biases that assume sight to be the fundamental mode of investigation. The famous invisible gorilla is just one example of how humans do not see all or even the most noticeable things in their visual field. Working eyes function usefully precisely because the brain filters out what it perceives to be nonvital information. Godin also calls attention to the fact that although most sighted people assume they are seeing the same things, a blind person’s innocent question: “What color is this?” reveals just how different two sets of eyes see the world.
“The Invisible Gorilla and Other Inattentions” Endnotes
- Hurt, “Your Senses Are Your Raw Information Learning Portals.”
- The entire interview is available as audio here: “A Conversation with Hoby Wedler, Blind Chemist, About Wine Tasting, Sensory Literacy, and the Glorious Smell of Wet Pavement,” Aromatica Poetica.
- Rosenblum, “Scent Tracking, Dark Dining, & Other Sensations.”
- Rosenblum, See What I’m Saying,
- Rosenblum, “Scent Tracking, Dark Dining, & Other Sensations.”
- Rosenblum, “Scent Tracking, Dark Dining, & Other Sensations.”
- Herz, The Scent of Desire,
- Herz, The Scent of Desire, 4–5.
- Charles, Brother Ray,
- Chabris and Simons, The Invisible Gorilla,
- Chabris and Simons, The Invisible Gorilla,
- Chabris and Simons, The Invisible Gorilla,
- Diderot, “Letter on the Blind,”
- Pinker, Enlightenment Now,
- Tenenbaum, “A Vision for Genes.”
Sensory Literacy
In his TED Talk, blind organic chemist Hoby Wedler begins with an experience that typifies his motivation for putting sensory literacy at the forefront of what he does. He describes an excursion to a field in Sonoma county on a foggy spring morning with sighted friends. They all marvel at the striking visuals and even try to describe the things they see to their blind companion, completely unaware of the sensations Hoby is enjoying: birds chirping, cows mooing, the viscosity of the air, smells of bay, eucalyptus, redwood trees, manure, alfalfa, and fresh-cut grass.
Selective Attention Test
“Count the number of passes made by the players in white… did you see the gorilla?”
#ImageDescription – The electromagnetic spectrum reveals how tiny is the visible spectrum and how much remains invisible to the naked eye of humans, though of course certain animals can see ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. This image shows the spectrum from low frequency/long waves to high frequency shortwaves: Radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays, with the rainbow of the visible spectrum doubled and enlarged. The cover of There Plant Eyes was inspired by the portion of the spectrum that includes the visible violet ,to the ultraviolet, and beyond.
